Wales’ golfers enjoyed some of their best performances in recent years in the European Team Championships, with the Men’s Girls and Boys teams all challenging strongly.
The men finished sixth in Europe, the first time they have reached the quarter-finals since the early 2000’s, the Boys secured their return to the top level of the European Team Championships, while the Girls reached the last four in Flight B.
“These are pleasing results because of the numbers of players who challenged across the various teams,” said Wales Golf performance director Gillian O’Leary.
“Wales usually have some strong individual performances which sometimes transfer into strong team performances, but to have so many players across the teams showing themselves capable at this level is encouraging.
“It was great to see the Wales Men back in the quarter-finals, taking on the top golfing nations in Europe, while it is encouraging to see the Boys getting back in the top flight with relative ease.
“We know there is a strong group of girls coming through the system and we would hope they can improve on their promising results this time round.”
Wales Men qualified for the quarter-finals in seventh place with solid scoring throughout the team in the low and mid seventies.
Ben Chamberlain led the way with scores of 70 and 71, Matt Roberts carding a 72 and 73. Jacob Davies 75 and 70, but all the players contributed to the team qualification.
Wales were edged out 4-3 in the quarter-finals by a strong England team. Wales lost both morning foursomes matches, meaning a fightback in the singles was in vain, despite winning those encounters 3-2 with Gaelen Trew beating Ben Jones, Archie Davies beating Alex Fitzpatrick, younger brother of European Tour star Matt, and Jake Hapgood earning victory over Tom Plumb.
That meant going into the play-offs for fourth to eighth places, which saw Wales earn an impressive win over Spain, 3-5 to 1.5 points.
Wins for Gaelen Trew, Jacob Davies and Jake Hapgood, along with a half for Ben Chamberlain, swept Wales to victory.
It was a close fought affair in the fifth/sixth place play-off against Ireland, wins for Gaelen Trew and Ben Chamberlain not quite enough in a 3-2 defeat. The foursome match between Matt Roberts and Archie Davies against Caolan Rafferty and James Sugrue went to the 22nd hole before the Irish pair won. Jacob Davies also lost on the 19th in an incredibly tight match.
In the European Girls in Spain, the Wales team qualified in 12th, Harriet Lockley the top performer with a 74 and 78.
Wales beat Belgium in the quarter-finals of Flight B, wins for Ffion Tynan and Darcey Harry, as well as foursomes pair Ellen Nicholas and Gracie Mayo, along with a half for Carys Worby led to a comfortable 3.5-1.5 victory.
There was a semi-final defeat to France, despite wins for Ffion Tynan and Darcy Harry, while it was a similar score in the last match against Ireland, this time if was Worby and Lockley with the two wins.
In the European Boys Division Two, Wales qualified for the knockout stages in first place with Tom Peet second in the individual scoring, Connor Owen third in the event in Wroclaw, Poland.
They then secured their return to the top flight next year by beating Belgium 5-2, James Ashfield and Tom Peet winning their foursomes match, as did Connor Owen and Reuben Bather, while there were singles wins for Reuben Bather, Connor Owen and James Ashfield.
Wales were declared the winners of Division Two when weather caused the final against Russia to be abandoned with Wales leading 1.5-0.5 during the foursomes.